52 Ancestors 2026: A Big Decision – A Common Theme

 

Many of my ancestors made big decisions that led to major changes for their families and for the generations that followed. Their fates were intertwined with the history of our land—from a collection of colonies to a nation—as they contended with the forces that shape history. During our wars of independence and civil conflict, they had to choose sides. Many, like Peter Cossart and Christian Fast, fought for the Patriot cause during the American Revolution. Later, during the Civil War era, decisions were perhaps more personal, with some choosing to fight in the Union Army and others sympathizing with the Confederate cause.

Migration was another defining theme. My immigrant ancestors who arrived in colonial days settled close to the coast, but their descendants moved inland, becoming pioneers who walked the Wilderness Road or traveled the Oregon Trail. Even earlier, they had made the difficult decision to leave their European homelands and sail to the New World—most never seeing again those they left behind.

One common thread linking many of my ancestors was religious conviction. They chose to break with established churches and join the Reformed Protestant movement led by John Calvin (in French, Jehan Cauvin). These believers sought to emulate the early Christian church by rejecting what they saw as traditions accumulated over centuries. Viewing humanity as fundamentally sinful, they distrusted hierarchical authority—whether exercised by princes and kings or by bishops and popes. Unsurprisingly, this movement drew the ire of the established order, and these so-called “heretics” and “traitors” often faced persecution and even death.

In France, Huguenots were driven from their ancestral lands, fleeing to territories controlled by Protestant princes along the Rhine or to the Dutch Republic (Netherlands), which had embraced Reformed Protestantism after separating from the Spanish crown and the Holy Roman Empire. (As an interesting side note, the familiar hymn “We Gather Together” originally celebrated the Dutch victory over Spainish forces in the Battle of Turnhout, not a Thanksgiving feast.) Likewise, French Protestants in the Spanish Netherlands (now Belgium) sought refuge in the Dutch Republic.

In England, cracks appeared in the façade of the Church of England, accompanied by persistent fears of creeping Catholic influence promoted by certain royals. Reformed Protestants organized themselves in Congregationalist (Puritan) and Presbyterian (Scottish and Scots-Irish) forms of church governance, with authority resting in local congregations or elected elders.

What did this turmoil mean for my faithful Reformed Protestant who faced persecution by church and state? Staying put was possible, but rarely wise. Refuge in the Netherlands or German states offered safety, yet assimilation remained a risk. For many of them, the New World offered a more hopeful solution. Pilgrim Separatists established Plymouth Colony, while English Puritans founded Massachusetts Bay. There, they attempted to build what they believed was a just society—though fears of losing their special covenant led to episodes such as the expulsion of Anne Hutchinson and the Salem witch trials. 

Huguenots from France and the Spanish Netherlands found common ground with Dutch co-religionists and migrated to New Amsterdam, helping to establish a colony that was less austere but more commercially focused. The search for refuge did not end there. My Quaker ancestors settled in Pennsylvania, seeking religious freedom. Scots-Irish and German settlers also made their way to Pennsylvania, making their way into the Appalachian Mountains. 

In the young republic, some of the descendants of these immigrant ancestors participated in the fervor of the Second Great Awakening, with some even joining new movements such as the Shaker communities emerging across the nation.

Religious conviction was thus a powerful force in the colonial experience. One could argue that their suspicion of aristocratic and royal hierarchies contributed to the spirit that fueled the American Revolution, and that their reformist zeal inspired movements ranging from public education to abolitionism. I sometimes wonder whether my own attraction to nonconformity and the pursuit of higher ideals is a trait passed down through the generations since my refugee ancestors first found their way to these shores.

Picture: Anonymous (France), John Calvin, www.catharijneconvent.nl, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=82311289

52 Ancestors 2025: Earliest Ancestor, or What Do April Showers Bring?

 

According to 23andMe, my earliest ancestors were in Africa—hunting, gathering, and surviving long enough to produce many, many generations. Over time, their descendants moved to northwest Europe and eventually crossed the Atlantic to the New World. As for named ancestors, one family researcher traced the des Marets (Demarest) line back to a 10th-century count and various Crusaders. But according to a post on a genealogy bulletin board, the hired genealogist may have followed a tenuous link to satisfy eager clients. So, rather than chase medieval nobility, I decided to focus on the earliest immigrant ancestor I could verify, and that search led somewhere more fruitful.

I already knew about Joris Rapelje, who arrived in New Amsterdam in 1624 with the earliest Dutch/Huguenot settlers, and I was familiar with several Puritan ancestors who came in the 1630s. But could some of the hints in the FamilySearch tree pointing to even earlier immigrants be accurate? It was time to trust—but verify.

In researching my Oregon Trail ancestor, Jairus Abijah Bonney Jr., I found a published genealogy that extended four generations beyond him. Since Jairus came from New England, I hoped to benefit from the region’s well-kept church and civil records. The line led to Jairus Abijah Bonney Sr., a Revolutionary War patriot, then to his father, Perez Bonney, and finally back to Perez’s grandfather, the immigrant Thomas Bonney. Born around 1604 in England, Thomas came to Massachusetts aboard the Hercules in 1634 and eventually settled in Duxbury.

Perez Bonney, born March 10, 1709, was one of the family’s early chroniclers; however, there’s some confusion in his account about how many American generations preceded him. So I turned to the lineage of his wife, Ruth Snow. Ruth was the daughter of James Snow and Ruth Shaw. James’s parents, Joseph Snow and Hopestill Alden, caught my attention. Joseph was the son of William Snow (born in England in 1627 and brought to the colonies as an 11-year-old indentured servant) and Rebecca Brown, who was born in Plymouth Colony in 1631. That name sounded promising. And indeed: Rebecca’s father was Peter Browne—a Mayflower passenger. As far as I can tell, he’s my earliest confirmed immigrant ancestor. Not bad!

But the name Alden rang another bell. Could there be more Mayflower connections? Sure enough, Hopestill Alden descended from one of the most well-known and prolific families in Plymouth Colony. Her father, Joseph Alden, was born in 1627 in Plymouth and was the son of none other than John Alden and Priscilla Mullins—both Mayflower passengers.

John Alden, made famous by his descendant (and my cousin) Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, was a cooper by trade. Whether or not he served as a messenger for Myles Standish is up for debate, but his role in the colony was significant. He arrived on the Mayflower as part of the crew but chose to stay, signing the Mayflower Compact rather than returning to England. He went on to hold several elected offices and was the last surviving signer of the Compact.

Priscilla Mullins had her own story of resilience. During the harsh winter of 1620–1621, she lost her parents and brother when she was about 18 years old. Despite this, she persevered and eventually married John Alden. Together, they had ten surviving children and many, many descendants and are my 10th-great-grandparents.

Much has been written about these early settlers. The ideals behind the Mayflower Compact, and the romanticized image of the first Thanksgiving (thanks in large part to Longfellow), still echo in our culture today. When I first began researching my family’s history in the late 1990s, I had a breakthrough with the lineage of Hannah Robbins Day, wife of John Jay Fast. Unlike many maternal lines, Hannah’s ancestry extended many generations into the early Massachusetts Bay Colony, linking me to several prominent New England families.

More recently, I discovered that the wife of Hannah’s son, William Marion Fast, also had deep New England roots. William married Louisa Jane Bolon in 1862, and her maternal line revealed even more connections to Plymouth Colony and the Mayflower. Another line in this side that was revealed is that of John Bigelow, who was reported to have sailed in the Winthrop fleet of Puritans that founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

A common theme among these New England ancestors is that they became farmers and gradually moved west after the American Revolution. Like many others, they followed familiar migration routes into Ohio, Illinois, and eventually Missouri. They were farmers and part of the fabric of their communities, but their American and New England roots ran deep.

Photo: Unknown author - https://collections.carli.illinois.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/nby_teich/id/21342, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=67029417